The joy luck of club is the title of this novel. It is also held by Suyuan, Jingmei’s mother, to gather 4 families immigrated to America in 1949. What is the purpose of holding such a party each week? The answer is to be joyful as the name of party------ the joy luck club. 4 old ladies always play maijiang and tell funny stories in the party. Everyone here tries his or her best to pretend to be happy. However, deeply inside their hearts, all of them have their own sorrows.
What makes them unhappy? Those pains are caused not only by their lives in old China but also by the misunderstanding of their own America-born daughters. So I think the name of the book is ironic.
How come daughters do not understand their mothers? It is caused by culture shock between the east and the west.
“3 obedience and 4 virtues” vs. Individual freedom
In Chinese tradition, wives must follow her own parents, husbands and parents-in-low. They are not allowed to have their own idea and have no right to choose their own life. If they do not obey the rules, they will be considered to be a bad woman. This point is shown in the first part of the book------- 4 mothers’ sad lives in old China. Although they have escaped from China, they also have Chinese traditional characters.
However, in America, children have equal rights with their parents. They can choose their own life in the way of they like. It is not difficult to understand why American-born daughters cannot like the way of their mothers educate them.
Take Waverly for example. Lindo asks her daughter to play chess and take part in a contest. After winning the game, Lindo boasts her daughter’s prize to others. Waverly can not understand this way and even hate this. She wrangles with her mother. In her view, it is her own honor. And it is none business of her mother. She asks her mother that if she wants to show off, wins the game by herself.
Mothers would like a daughter to obey their wills while daughters would like to be free and independent.
Criticism Vs. Encouragement
Chinese parents express their love to children through criticism. On the contrary, the American people show affection through encouragement.
For example, Suyuan always compares her daughter Jingmei with Waverly. She always puts out Jingmei’s bad points. These things make jingmei unhappy. She believes that her mother wants to control her and likes Waverly more than her. In order to show resistance to her mother, she decides not to play the piano that her mother tries her best to let her learn.
Suyuan wants her daughter to became a swan, which represents her hope. She left from
China for seeking a better way to live and finding a new lifestyle for women. She intent to let her daughter have been respected by others instead of being a Chinese traditional woman. However she fails. The failure is indicated at the beginning of the book. When su yuan arrived in America the immigration officials pulls her swan away from her, leaving the women fluttering her arms and with only one swan feather for a memory.
It is a tragedy to Jingmei as she really has a talent for playing the piano. She does not realize it until her mother died. The treason for this tragedy is misunderstanding between 2 generations in different cultures.
Chinese vs. English
The linguistic barrier exists between each mother and their children. The children alsys complains their mothers’ bad English mixed with Chinese words. They think their mothers are stupid while mothers think children know nothing. It shows that there is lack of communication between 2 generations.
All of these show culture shock between the east and the west.
At the end of the book, this situation is changed. Jingmei can understand her mother’s love; Lindo accepts Waverly’s husband who is a foreigner that she dislikes; Lena approves her value to her American husband after her mother’s advice… daughters starts to understand their mothers and the west can understand the east.
Now I realize another meaning of the joy luck club. “Joy” stands for “join” It is a link between the 2 generations. In the party daughters and mothers have meals and communicate together. It is also the link between the east and the west. Mothers show Chinese dishes here and play Chinese traditional game---- maijiang. And all different colors friends gather here. It signs conciliatory of these 2 cultures.